Friday, July 16, 2010

Cripple Creek RR (and Friday Favorites)

If you know Diego at all, you know that he likes is obsessed with trains. (Right now, we're watching yet another Thomas & Friends DVD.) And if you know Eliana, you know that she tries her hardest to keep up with her older brother- which basically means I've got two kids that spend a good portion of their day playing with toy trains. So, whenever we get a chance, we try to take a train ride. This time we headed up to Cripple Creek, CO.

Cripple Creek was a boom town (which lost becoming the state capital by four votes) because of the gold rush. All sorts of men headed to this town to make it rich quick. In fact, all sorts of men still head to this town to make it rich quick. The rail we road on was used a lot by miners back in the day. Now, it's more of an area attraction, but the main area attractions are casinos. All sorts of beautiful architecture filled with slot machines and the sorts. Disappointing if you want my opinion. But the train ride- what we were there for anyway- was anything but disappointing!

Because it was a steam engine and we got to sit in the front of the passenger car right behind the engine!

Which means we could talk to the engineer the entire trip and watch him throw coal into the furnace (which reaches temps in the 1700's!) and see how he ran the train.

And hear the whistle very well- which Eliana did not like but everyone else thought was cool!

Watching the scenery out the window,

Listening to the gentle click-clacking of the train as it travels,

And learning about the history of the railroads that pioneered into many new frontiers all make the train obsession a bit more enjoyable to me.

Sometimes Thomas is tiring... and I think I might cry if I have to read one more poorly written book. But, days like this make me smile and glad that my kids love trains instead of something like Yu-gi-oh or whatever other kids are into these days.

Just a reminder to any other moms who spend much too much time watching Thomas and Percy and James- trains go beyond the Island of Sodor and can be beautiful. Here's my Friday Favorites this week: